I do not know much of Italy’s history and therefore Elizabeth Barret Browning’s “Casa Guidi Windows” proved quite interesting. Her poem chronicles Italy’s tumultuous gestation and birth as a unified nation. E.B.B. and Robert Browning lived in the palazzo in Florence called Casa Guidi during the writing of the poem, 1851. The narrator tells stories from her observations through the windows of Casa Guidi. Symbolically, as a foreigner she is in a space separate from the revolution-within the walls of the Casa—yet she studies the revolution and political happenings through the windows of the house.
But E.B.B. does not open the poem with scenes of battle rather she places a young child by the church singing of liberty. The hope of Italy’s future rings melodiously hopeful. She then speaks of “older singer’s lips” who bewailed Italy enchained (16, 21). I cannot due E.B.B. justice through paraphrasing her next one-hundred-fifty lines. I will bring up what I find very interesting when thinking about inheritance. Line 175 states, “Now tell us what is Italy?” Men reply, “Virgil, Cicero, Catullus, Caesar, Boccaccio, Dante, Petrarca, Angelo Raffael, Pergolese” (176-181). These men of letters, art, and power—the history makers—these are they which define Italy, so E.B.B. poses. I think it interesting that over one-hundred-fifty years later similar responses could be given. When one thinks of post-colonial Italy, these outstanding men come to mind. Could we say that individuals form a nation’s inheritance? Yet, the narrator responds, “We do not serve the dead—the past is past!” (217). I complement the narrator for wanting to look brightly into the full future of Italy, but must disagree with the sentiment. We always entertain the dead; they are our inheritance, unless like E.B.B., we consciously sever ourselves as she did with her father.
At the close of Part II of the poem the narrator still speaks of gazing “through Casa Guidi windows” (761) yet now she includes herself in the subject taking action: “We will trust God” (776). And in full circle the children as at the beginning are smiling about the future (773-774). The inclusion of herself in the plural pronoun is one way that E.B.B. shows empathy for the Italians. Her care, concern, and circumspectness as an Englishwoman living with the Italians through these revolutions speak much of her person.
I also just want to mention how entertaining I find May Kendall’s poetry. I never imagined that people of the nineteenth century thought of aliens! Or that is how I see the Trilobites. I love the way she elucidates social maladies through punchy satirical humor that makes it hard not to smile when reading. “The Sandblast Girl and the Acid Man” and “In the Toy Shop” though not dealing with issues any less weighty did have a heavier delivery. “In the Toy Shop” is still very appropriate to many of today’s young girls/women, girls who feel from society’s pressure that they have to be pretty, physically attractive, smart, and talented in many ways—to be a “girl who has it all.” After reading this poem I feel like yelling, “Yes, that is possible if we were all made of wood!” Or even more apropos to our culture—made of plastic just like Barbie. I can’t wait to use this poem in the classroom.
Nicol Epple
ENG 764
Writing Response_Wk4, Day 2
Religious Poetry
When I think of religious poetry I think of sentiments of Christianity. By definition, any religion in its various practices and forms qualifies as religious poetry, but to me when one says “religious” poetry a connotation of Christianity from the nineteenth-century backwards come to mind. This is due to the significant historical influence of Catholicism and forms of Christianity had upon culture. Of course, many others practiced religions or not at all. Such is the case with Constance Naden, but I believe they are the exception not the rule.
Just for thought-today’s contemporary term, I believe, would be spiritual poetry which includes faiths of all kinds, not specifically Christianity.
In this response I write about Jane Austen’s prayers included in the Appendix. As her brother published them posthumously, it is difficult to say whether Austen meant them to be published or viewed at all--that would make for interesting study. There are many correlations in Austen’s prayers that remind me of Fanny. And as such, I may use this information in, my final paper. Within the three prayers Austen exhibits a consciousness of her spiritual mind and behavior for that day (the prayers being addressed in the evening or at bedtime). Austen takes stock of the happenings of her days and asks for mercy and help to do better the morrow. She prays “May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing thoughts, words, and action during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of evil” (478). Fanny exhibits this same self-consciousness (a topic I am developing in my paper).
Along with being conscious of sin, Austen prays again and again to be conscious of gratitude for all that the almighty father has bestowed upon her: “Give us a thankful sense of the blessings in which we live, of the many comforts of our lot; that we may not deserve to love them by discontent or indifference” (478). Fanny comes to mind as the benefactor of Lord Bertrum goodness, though the comparison (or more fittingly-contrast of Lord Bertrum to “almighty father” is the subject of another paper). Throughout Mansfield Park Fanny continuously displays a sense of thankfulness for the “comforts of [her] lot” and none moreso than when she returns to Portsmouth (478).
Austen contrasts the sin of self-deception “by pride or vanity” to an attitude of “reverence and devotion” (478). Here, I think of the Crawfords and their vain self-centered vanity. In using the adjectives that I just stated it is easy to juxtapose the Crawfords with Fanny. The Appendix also includes a short excerpt from Hannah More’s Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1798), a publication that Austen would most likely have read. The excerpt comes from chapter 18, “A Worldly Spirit” and the editor notes that the younger Bertrum’s were attracted by the Crawfords “Intelligence and the ‘worldly spirit’” (I still have to find the citation. Interestingly, this reference is from the same scripture as that pertaining to the care of orphans and widows. It reads “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1.27). Austen notes that the Crawfords are worldly minded. I argue that she meant to position them in a space which accentuates Fanny’s non-worldliness. The example of the play with the Crawford’s great interest and Fanny’s refusal is a case of point.
Another thought-Austen mentions to pray for the “comfort & protection of the widow and orphan” (479). The above mentioned scripture from the Book of James speaks specifically of caring for the “widows and orphans” and to do so is “true religion” (1.27). That Austen was mindful (again conscious) of what the bible condones as true religion affirms her writing acuity of spiritual matters. I am now thinking of the hypocrisy that she writes into the character of Mr. Collins from P&P.
Austen’s experience as a reverend’s daughter and her own religious conscience prompt weavings of religious themes throughout her novels. Nicol Epple ENG 764 Writing Response-Wk4, Day 1 Poetry and Love
In thinking about what comes to my mind when I think of love poetry, the popular words, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways….” And until I googled it, I did not know that it was written by E.B.B.! How appropriate. I found the lines to the poem and love it all the more after having studied more of E.B.B. Do not think this poem trite! If read as if for the first time, it is rife with lyricism, beauty of thought, and transcendent thoughts.
XLIII. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
These are the lines that I think of when I think of love poetry. But, of course, I know there are as many expressions of love as there are people. For example Constance Naden expresses love in tandem and/or contest with intellect. In “Evolutional Erotics” she states “”Thee, dear one, will I ever cherish;/ Thy worshipped image shall remain/ In the grey thought-cells of my brain/ Until their form and function perish” (27-30). Most would not consider “grey thought-cells of my brain” romantic, but it works. Rather, it moves the heart. And after reading of Naden’s intellectual and artistic giftedness one can understand how she particularly would marry mind and heart when both were one in her.
One aspect of love present in Naden’s, “The Two Artist’s” and “Love’s Mirror” is the idea of idealistic love, an idealistic love that borders on an unrealistic expectation. The narrator in “Love’s Mirror” boldly proclaims “Cast out the Goddess! Let me in” (7). She saying, “Give up the mirage! I am here in front of your face.” What patience and understanding she has! Or blind love. At the end of the poem the narrator continues optimistically “And, while I love you more and more,/ My spirit, gazing on the light,/ Becomes, in loveliness and might,/ The glorious Vision you adore” (19-22). Wishful thinking I say. And a little sad—she expects to become, in his eyes, the embodiment of his Vision. My question is-why is she worth him in the first place? Love is blind.
In Rossetti’s poem, “In an Artist’s Studio,” again a man has visions of love. This one lives in the canvas. Rossetti writes twice that she “Not as she is” but “as she fills his dream” (13-14). Another mirage of love. But such subjects are for poetry.
ENG 764
Writing-Week4, Day 3
(Post) Colonial Poetry
I do not know much of Italy’s history and therefore Elizabeth Barret Browning’s “Casa Guidi Windows” proved quite interesting. Her poem chronicles Italy’s tumultuous gestation and birth as a unified nation. E.B.B. and Robert Browning lived in the palazzo in Florence called Casa Guidi during the writing of the poem, 1851. The narrator tells stories from her observations through the windows of Casa Guidi. Symbolically, as a foreigner she is in a space separate from the revolution-within the walls of the Casa—yet she studies the revolution and political happenings through the windows of the house.
But E.B.B. does not open the poem with scenes of battle rather she places a young child by the church singing of liberty. The hope of Italy’s future rings melodiously hopeful. She then speaks of “older singer’s lips” who bewailed Italy enchained (16, 21). I cannot due E.B.B. justice through paraphrasing her next one-hundred-fifty lines. I will bring up what I find very interesting when thinking about inheritance. Line 175 states, “Now tell us what is Italy?” Men reply, “Virgil, Cicero, Catullus, Caesar, Boccaccio, Dante, Petrarca, Angelo Raffael, Pergolese” (176-181). These men of letters, art, and power—the history makers—these are they which define Italy, so E.B.B. poses. I think it interesting that over one-hundred-fifty years later similar responses could be given. When one thinks of post-colonial Italy, these outstanding men come to mind. Could we say that individuals form a nation’s inheritance? Yet, the narrator responds, “We do not serve the dead—the past is past!” (217). I complement the narrator for wanting to look brightly into the full future of Italy, but must disagree with the sentiment. We always entertain the dead; they are our inheritance, unless like E.B.B., we consciously sever ourselves as she did with her father.
At the close of Part II of the poem the narrator still speaks of gazing “through Casa Guidi windows” (761) yet now she includes herself in the subject taking action: “We will trust God” (776). And in full circle the children as at the beginning are smiling about the future (773-774). The inclusion of herself in the plural pronoun is one way that E.B.B. shows empathy for the Italians. Her care, concern, and circumspectness as an Englishwoman living with the Italians through these revolutions speak much of her person.
I also just want to mention how entertaining I find May Kendall’s poetry. I never imagined that people of the nineteenth century thought of aliens! Or that is how I see the Trilobites. I love the way she elucidates social maladies through punchy satirical humor that makes it hard not to smile when reading. “The Sandblast Girl and the Acid Man” and “In the Toy Shop” though not dealing with issues any less weighty did have a heavier delivery. “In the Toy Shop” is still very appropriate to many of today’s young girls/women, girls who feel from society’s pressure that they have to be pretty, physically attractive, smart, and talented in many ways—to be a “girl who has it all.” After reading this poem I feel like yelling, “Yes, that is possible if we were all made of wood!” Or even more apropos to our culture—made of plastic just like Barbie. I can’t wait to use this poem in the classroom.
Nicol Epple
ENG 764
Writing Response_Wk4, Day 2
Religious Poetry
When I think of religious poetry I think of sentiments of Christianity. By definition, any religion in its various practices and forms qualifies as religious poetry, but to me when one says “religious” poetry a connotation of Christianity from the nineteenth-century backwards come to mind. This is due to the significant historical influence of Catholicism and forms of Christianity had upon culture. Of course, many others practiced religions or not at all. Such is the case with Constance Naden, but I believe they are the exception not the rule.
Just for thought-today’s contemporary term, I believe, would be spiritual poetry which includes faiths of all kinds, not specifically Christianity.
In this response I write about Jane Austen’s prayers included in the Appendix. As her brother published them posthumously, it is difficult to say whether Austen meant them to be published or viewed at all--that would make for interesting study. There are many correlations in Austen’s prayers that remind me of Fanny. And as such, I may use this information in, my final paper. Within the three prayers Austen exhibits a consciousness of her spiritual mind and behavior for that day (the prayers being addressed in the evening or at bedtime). Austen takes stock of the happenings of her days and asks for mercy and help to do better the morrow. She prays “May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing thoughts, words, and action during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of evil” (478). Fanny exhibits this same self-consciousness (a topic I am developing in my paper).
Along with being conscious of sin, Austen prays again and again to be conscious of gratitude for all that the almighty father has bestowed upon her: “Give us a thankful sense of the blessings in which we live, of the many comforts of our lot; that we may not deserve to love them by discontent or indifference” (478). Fanny comes to mind as the benefactor of Lord Bertrum goodness, though the comparison (or more fittingly-contrast of Lord Bertrum to “almighty father” is the subject of another paper). Throughout Mansfield Park Fanny continuously displays a sense of thankfulness for the “comforts of [her] lot” and none moreso than when she returns to Portsmouth (478).
Austen contrasts the sin of self-deception “by pride or vanity” to an attitude of “reverence and devotion” (478). Here, I think of the Crawfords and their vain self-centered vanity. In using the adjectives that I just stated it is easy to juxtapose the Crawfords with Fanny. The Appendix also includes a short excerpt from Hannah More’s Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1798), a publication that Austen would most likely have read. The excerpt comes from chapter 18, “A Worldly Spirit” and the editor notes that the younger Bertrum’s were attracted by the Crawfords “Intelligence and the ‘worldly spirit’” (I still have to find the citation. Interestingly, this reference is from the same scripture as that pertaining to the care of orphans and widows. It reads “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1.27). Austen notes that the Crawfords are worldly minded. I argue that she meant to position them in a space which accentuates Fanny’s non-worldliness. The example of the play with the Crawford’s great interest and Fanny’s refusal is a case of point.
Another thought-Austen mentions to pray for the “comfort & protection of the widow and orphan” (479). The above mentioned scripture from the Book of James speaks specifically of caring for the “widows and orphans” and to do so is “true religion” (1.27). That Austen was mindful (again conscious) of what the bible condones as true religion affirms her writing acuity of spiritual matters. I am now thinking of the hypocrisy that she writes into the character of Mr. Collins from P&P.
Austen’s experience as a reverend’s daughter and her own religious conscience prompt weavings of religious themes throughout her novels.
Nicol Epple
ENG 764
Writing Response-Wk4, Day 1
Poetry and Love
XLIII. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
These are the lines that I think of when I think of love poetry. But, of course, I know there are as many expressions of love as there are people. For example Constance Naden expresses love in tandem and/or contest with intellect. In “Evolutional Erotics” she states “”Thee, dear one, will I ever cherish;/ Thy worshipped image shall remain/ In the grey thought-cells of my brain/ Until their form and function perish” (27-30). Most would not consider “grey thought-cells of my brain” romantic, but it works. Rather, it moves the heart. And after reading of Naden’s intellectual and artistic giftedness one can understand how she particularly would marry mind and heart when both were one in her.
One aspect of love present in Naden’s, “The Two Artist’s” and “Love’s Mirror” is the idea of idealistic love, an idealistic love that borders on an unrealistic expectation. The narrator in “Love’s Mirror” boldly proclaims “Cast out the Goddess! Let me in” (7). She saying, “Give up the mirage! I am here in front of your face.” What patience and understanding she has! Or blind love. At the end of the poem the narrator continues optimistically “And, while I love you more and more,/ My spirit, gazing on the light,/ Becomes, in loveliness and might,/ The glorious Vision you adore” (19-22). Wishful thinking I say. And a little sad—she expects to become, in his eyes, the embodiment of his Vision. My question is-why is she worth him in the first place? Love is blind.
In Rossetti’s poem, “In an Artist’s Studio,” again a man has visions of love. This one lives in the canvas. Rossetti writes twice that she “Not as she is” but “as she fills his dream” (13-14). Another mirage of love. But such subjects are for poetry.